[Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Collection management: trade or profession?

Fri Feb 23 13:15:31 EST 2024

Good point to bring up Librarians, Liath!
Interesting to note that in the US, in a lot of libraries, the librarians have professionalized in a similar manner to doctors and lawyers. And interestingly, many librarians have tenure. A librarian at an academic library can have tenure and teach courses! Many public school systems in the US also have tenure, but this is usually guaranteed by a union contract, and most library systems with tenure (I think) do not have union representation.
I think that there are some important distinctions between Librarians and museum Collection Managers (largely, collection managers deal primarily with one-of-a-kind objects that have varied storage needs and usually they need specific subject knowledge, whereas librarians primarily deal with objects that are not unique and fairly homogenous in their care requirements. But both have similar responsibilities and workflows. Archivists are probably more comparable in terms of variety of responsibility, and they are usually but not always librarians by training.
Another interesting thing to consider is that many librarians do not have a professional credential beyond a bachelors. The MLIS was, as I understand it, a fairly recent development that was concomitant with the field professionalizing and adding (for better or worse) barriers to entry to newcomers.
-Nate
--

[The Ohio State University]
Nathaniel F. Shoobs
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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Dirk Neumann <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>
Date: Friday, February 23, 2024 at 1:05 PM
To: Liath Appleton <liathappleton at gmail.com>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Collection management: trade or profession?
Good match! In Germany again, you can start this as an education (3 years), but you can also study this at university Am 23. 02. 2024 um 19: 00 schrieb Liath Appleton: Librarians are very similar to Collections Managers. How are Librarians classified?

Good match!

In Germany again, you can start this as an education (3 years), but you can also study this at university

Am 23.02.2024 um 19:00 schrieb Liath Appleton:
Librarians are very similar to Collections Managers. How are Librarians classified? In the US, qualifications vary, but I think most positions require a master's degree in Library Sciences. That is not an option for Collections Managers, at least not yet.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 11:54 AM Dirk Neumann <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de<mailto:d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>> wrote:
aha - more details to answer the question.
Payment-wise, there is a difference at least in Germany:

A profound technical educated BTA would receive a higher payment level then a biology bachelor that did not continue to complete the masters degree. The same applies for good amateurs (e.g. in entomology), which often are highly, skilled, but do not have the 'technical education' that would lift them onto a higher payment level.

The payment level for a researcher in Germany is E13 (curator), that of an BTA is E9, and that of a bachelor or amateur may start at E6 or E8.
A professional (master) gardener in a botanic garden however may start at E5 or E6, even though the degree as a trade master as recognised profession is equivalent at least with a bachelor's degree at university.

Another problem that we have is that at the moment, there is no such education as 'collection manager' you could graduate from. In the US and here in Europe, there are Museum Studies programmes, but this is something different. A good starting point would be having the possibility to qualify as a proper 'collection manager' as profession. Senckenberg in Frankfurt does this. Perhaps this would be a suited example for your test case?

With best wishes
Dirk

Am 23.02.2024 um 18:40 schrieb Callomon,Paul:
ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This e-mail comes from an external sender.

Part of the reason for the question is to bring these words into focus. For some folks, "professional" simply means "paid," and not "amateur." That's not its actual meaning, though - there are no amateur surgeons or professional carpenters.

The distinction is important, because we should be thinking harder about creating more pathways into museum collections management. At present, the requirements and compensation vary so widely between individual institutions that it's impossible to  say whether this is something that someone with, say, a high school diploma or an associate's degree could aspire to. If it isn't - if to be a CM you need a master's or PhD or "equivalent" - then it's a profession, and we are likely to see the same demographic as in the other professions. At least we would, if being a CM paid like being a doctor or lawyer...

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates

________________________________

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu><mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Douglas Yanega <dyanega at gmail.com><mailto:dyanega at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2024 12:31 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu> <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu><mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Collection management: trade or profession?

External.
On 2/23/24 8:34 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote:

  *   Is collection management a trade or a profession? What's the difference?

I imagine that most people you asked "What's the difference between a trade and a profession?" could not give a clear and coherent answer discriminating between them. If I had not seen the definitions you posted, I don't think I could have answered this question, myself, despite 25 years as a collection manager. Frankly, off the top of my head, I would have said that a profession is what you get paid to do - i.e., that's what distinguishes a professional from an amateur. In that sense, trade and profession are synonymous, since I can't imagine calling something a trade if it is not a source of income.

I'm not disputing the definitions you gave, just saying that that particular distinction is not intuitive, given the various uses of the word "professional".

Peace.

--

Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum

Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega

phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)

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Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
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_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
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****

Dirk Neumann
Collection Manager, Hamburg

Postal address:
Museum of Nature Hamburg
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis
of Biodiversity Change
Dirk Neumann
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3
20146 Hamburg
+49 40 238 317 – 628
d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de<mailto:d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>
www.leibniz-lib.de

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Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
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Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst

--
Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
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